National Affairs: Off The Sidewalks

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"Woodrow Wilson once said that 'the eight horses that draw the triumphal chariot of every ruler and leader of free men are these:

"Force of character.

"Readiness of resources.

"Clearness of vision.

"Grasp of intellect.

"Courage of conviction.

"Earnestness of purpose.

"Instinct and

"Capacity for leadership.

"Governor Smith has them all.

"His four terms as Governor have been marked by an extraordinary series of achievements. . . .

"The effort to picture Gov. Smith as a tool of Tammany Hall is grotesque to those who have watched his conduct as the Chief Executive of this State. Mr. William Allen White's attack on him as a legislator is no longer bait to catch gudgeons. . . .

"I understand the charge has been made in some quarters that the Democratic organization in the City and State of New York was not loyal to the national ticket in 1924. I do not wish this to be believed by any friends of mine. It is not true. . . .

"I personally urged him to permit himself to be renominated for the good of the party in the State and Nation. When he argued that those not familiar with the situation in the State might misunderstand it if his vote should outrun mine, I told him that there could be no room for misunderstanding on that subject, least of all on my part, and that what the Democratic Party would ask of him first of all, as of every candidate, was to carry the office for which he was nominated."

*Mrs. Willebrandt's title is Assistant U.S. Attorney General.

*The ranch of Albert Bacon Fall, Secretary of the Interior under Harding, at Three Rivers, N. M., which figured in the oil scandals, was under negotiation last week to be sold by Mr. Fall to Clay Mann, cattleman, for some $800,000.